ViiV nabs EMA marketing authorization for multidrug-resistant HIV

European approval has been granted to Viiv Healthcare for Rukobia (fostemsavir) 600mg extended-release tablets, for use alongside other antiretroviral (ARV) therapies for the treatment of adults with multidrug-resistant HIV-1 infection, for whom it is otherwise not possible to construct a suppressive anti-viral regimen.

Fostemsavir is a first-in-class HIV attachment inhibitor that works by targeting the first step of the HIV lifecycle and shows no cross-resistance to other currently licensed antiretroviral classes, offering a new option to this group of people who are multidrug-resistant and at risk of disease progression and death.

"There still remains a small subset of people living with multi-drug resistant HIV who are at risk of having their disease progress"Deborah Waterhouse, chief executive of ViiV Healthcare, a majority-owned subsidiary of UK pharma major GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK), said: “There have been great strides forward in the treatment of HIV over the last few decades, however, there still remains a small subset of people living with multi-drug resistant HIV who are at risk of having their disease progress.